Title: CALIDENA methodology for quality infrastructure service assessment and improvement in wheat value chains

Authors: Mesfin Demissie; Abdi Duga; Birhanu Beshah; Frank Ebinger

Addresses: School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Addis Ababa Institutes of Technology (AAIT), Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ' Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ' School of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Addis Ababa Institutes of Technology (AAIT), Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ' Nuremberg Campus of Technology, Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Oh Nuremberg, Germany

Abstract: Wheat is one of Ethiopia's most important cereal crops in terms of the area of land allocated, the volume produced, and the number of farmers engaged in its production. About 4.7 million farmers produce 3.9 million tons of wheat across 1.6 million hectares of land. Despite the significant potential of the country, some challenges exist to attain wheat self-sufficiency. These challenges spread across the wheat value chain (WVC); wherein quality-related issues are prominent. Therefore, assessing the national quality infrastructure (NQI) service and offering mitigation schemes is a goal to pursue. To do so, this paper evaluates NQI services in the WVC and proposes an improvement mechanism using the CALIDENA methodology. Results show WVC is subjected to a significant number of quality-related issues mainly associated with conformity assessment service (calibration, certification, inspection, and testing) and standards. Finally, the paper concludes with recommendations for NQI service improvement to improve the WVC.

Keywords: CALIDENA; quality issues; quality improvement; national quality infrastructure; NQI; wheat value chain; WVC.

DOI: 10.1504/IJQI.2022.122313

International Journal of Quality and Innovation, 2022 Vol.6 No.2, pp.162 - 189

Received: 13 Aug 2020
Accepted: 28 May 2021
Published online: 19 Apr 2022 *

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